Summary

Plot

The story starts with the revelation that Trent DeWhite has developed a crush on Mandy Straussberg. He asks Mandy to sit with him in the cafeteria, and she wants to tell him something. Before she can say anything, though, Trent loses his nerve and leaves, sure that Mandy likes him, too. The problem is that Trent thinks Mandy likes him because of the valentine he delivered to her in #560: “The Present Long Ago”, which was actually made by Max Hampton. Trent goes to Max and tells him that he wants to tell Mandy the truth, but Max threatens to tell everyone that Trent likes Mandy if he does.

Later at Whit's End, Trent explains the situation to Connie, who, to Trent's horror, is writing it down in story form (which, unbeknownst to Trent, was to be used in her secret book about Odyssey). After making Connie promise not to use it, Trent leaves. Connie then changes her mind and decides to change the names of the characters.

Not long after this, Mandy is talking to Connie, panicking that she hasn't written a story for her English class. Bernard comes in and asks Connie for help with Whit's office door, and as she leaves she drops the story that she wrote about the valentine. Mandy reads it, realizes that Trent didn't make her the valentine, and uses the story for her assignment.

Mandy then confronts Trent at school and asks him to tell her who the valentine was from, but Trent says that he can't because he was sworn to secrecy. He panics when Mandy tells him that she used the story about the valentine for her assignment, but she tries to calm him down by telling him that it was simply an assignment and that no one besides Mrs. Nietchew would read it. Then Liz Horton comes and tells them that the story is going to be published in The Odyssey Owl, distressing both Trent and Mandy.

Max, meanwhile, reads the story and becomes furious, thinking that Trent spilled the secret to Mandy. He volunteers as a last minute guest for Candid Conversations with Connie, intending to tell everyone about Trent's crush.

Trent, Mandy, and Liz later walk into Whit's End, talking about the story, when Bernard tells them that Max is the guest on Connie's radio show. Trent is greatly disturbed, and runs off to the radio studio. Mandy and Liz follow, unsure why Trent is so worried, and all three burst into the studio five minutes before the show. An argument ensues, and several secrets are spilled, including Trent liking Mandy, Max making the valentine, Connie writing a book about Odyssey, and Liz's crush on Alex Jefferson. Then they realize the 'On Air' light is on, and that their entire conversation was broadcast on Kids' Radio.

After the show is over, Max leaves quickly, and Connie, Liz, Mandy, and Trent talk about their confessions. Mandy tells Trent that in the cafeteria she had meant to tell him something about her parents (likely that they were separating) and that she only really likes him as a friend. The four of them then laugh about how it could of been worse and list off some more of their deepest, darkest secrets before noticing the 'On Air' light is lit again. Max pressed the button on his way out, and now even more of their secrets have been broadcast for all of Odyssey to hear.

During the scene in the studio, Trent admits that he likes Mandy, to which Max responds, "Smooth move there, Trent. I was going to tell everyone you liked her, but now you messed it up." This statement implies that Max knew that they were on the air from the beginning; supporting this is the fact that he was the only one who did not seem shocked to be on air when it was discovered by Trent, Mandy, Liz and Connie.

Before Trent reveals Max's identity to Connie she refers to him as he-who-can't-be-named—a probable allusion to the common reference to Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter.

Bernard calls Connie several Russian names throughout the show in reference to his sarcastic remark about her being a Russian spy; when he runs out of Russian names, he calls her "Ethel." This is probably a reference to Ethel Rosenberg, who, along with her husband Julius, was executed in 1953 for selling nuclear secrets to the Soviets.